Synonyms of murky

murky

adjective

ˈmər-kē 

1

as in darkened

being without light or without much light

I didn't like walking around the murky campground without a flashlight

Synonyms & Similar Words

• darkened
• dark
• black
• obscured
• obscure
• dim
• gloomy
• somber
• dusky
• lightless
• darkish
• stygian
• darkling
• dusk
• unlit
• dimmed
• pitch-black
• tenebrous
• pitch-dark
• darksome
• pitchy
• caliginous
• rayless
• shadowy
• twilit
• misty
• shady
• crepuscular
• gray
• clouded
• cloudy
• moonless
• tenebrific
• starless
• lackluster
• foggy
• dulled
• pale
• dull
• smoggy
• leaden
• fuliginous
• soupy
• sunless
• befogged
• shadowlike
• beclouded

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• light
• bright
• brilliant
• luminous
• illuminated
• lucid
• shining
• sparkling
• lucent
• lit
• illumined
• brightened
• glaring
• resplendent
• radiant
• incandescent
• lightsome
• glowing
• effulgent
• beamy
• shiny
• lambent
• glossy
• lustrous
• alight
• beaming
• moonlit
• highlighted
• aglitter
• sunlit
• relucent
• agleam
• ultrabright
• moony
• spotlighted
• ablaze
• starlit
• floodlit

2

as in dark

causing or marked by an atmosphere lacking in cheer

the murky shadows of the cemetery

Synonyms & Similar Words

• dark
• bleak
• somber
• lonely
• depressive
• depressing
• desolate
• darkening
• solemn
• gray
• cold
• morbid
• blue
• lonesome
• black
• miserable
• gloomy
• cloudy
• dismal
• wretched
• dreary
• cheerless
• sullen
• depressed
• sad
• chill
• funereal
• lugubrious
• dire
• oppressive
• morose
• glum
• forlorn
• sepulchral
• saturnine
• elegiac
• disconsolate
• comfortless
• melancholy
• tenebrous
• drear
• godforsaken
• dreich
• unhappy
• desperate
• dim
• dull
• sunless
• plutonian
• grim
• Cimmerian
• hopeless
• negative
• mournful
• melancholic
• tenebrific
• woeful
• menacing
• woebegone
• low
• discouraging
• dismaying
• dejected
• distressful
• mirthless
• dispiriting
• upsetting
• distressing
• pessimistic
• despondent
• down
• disheartening
• droopy
• drab
• inconsolable
• discomfiting
• sorrowful
• lamentable
• colorless
• plaintive
• hangdog
• dour
• threatening
• lowering
• lowery

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• bright
• friendly
• cheerful
• cheery
• festive
• cordial
• gay
• comforting
• sunshiny
• joyous
• buoyant
• merry
• joyful
• jolly
• gay
• optimistic
• blithe
• mirthful
• hopeful
• encouraging
• heartwarming
• cheering
• blithesome
• jocund
• lighthearted
• lightsome

3

as in hazy

filled with or dimmed by fine particles (as of dust or water) in suspension

skies made murky from the smoke of forest fires that were many miles to the west

Synonyms & Similar Words

• hazy
• misty
• rainy
• clouded
• foggy
• thick
• cloudy
• muddy
• smoggy
• smoky
• milky
• soupy
• gauzy
• befogged
• turbid
• beclouded
• slimy
• overcast
• brumous
• mucky
• stormy
• slushy
• opaque
• dirty
• miasmic
• smudgy
• miasmatic
• sooty
• miasmal
• miry
• filmy

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• clear
• limpid
• cloudless
• bright
• clean
• unclouded
• pellucid
• sunny
• fair
• transparent
• translucent
• sunshiny
• clement

4

as in ambiguous

having an often intentionally veiled or uncertain meaning

a murky reply to a question about his intentions

Synonyms & Similar Words

• ambiguous
• cryptic
• dark
• obscure
• mysterious
• enigmatic
• unclear
• vague
• mystic
• opaque
• nebulous
• esoteric
• questionable
• inscrutable
• deep
• uncertain
• equivocal
• arcane
• occult
• confusing
• Delphic
• fuliginous
• hazy
• elliptical
• shadowy
• muddy
• obscurant
• complicated
• fuzzy
• indistinct
• eerie
• foggy
• weird
• misty
• clouded
• shrouded
• double-edged
• recondite
• abstruse
• cloudy
• uncanny
• difficult
• faint
• undefined
• dim
• cloaked
• complex
• shaded
• incomprehensible
• disguised
• inexplicable
• indirect
• undetermined
• perplexing
• indecipherable
• masked
• puzzling
• inexact
• indefinite
• indistinguishable
• concealed
• invisible
• baffling
• intangible
• impenetrable
• unknowable
• noncommittal
• obfuscatory
• bewildering
• unfathomable
• confounding
• mystifying
• unanswerable
• impalpable
• inexplicit
• befogged
• beclouded
• sphinxlike
• inappreciable
• shadowlike
• circuitous
• obtuse
• bedimmed
• roundabout
• obnubilated

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• clear
• obvious
• plain
• unambiguous
• accessible
• understandable
• distinct
• unequivocal
• certain
• bright
• evident
• comprehensible
• legible
• intelligible
• strong
• sure
• firm
• pellucid
• knowable
• defined
• direct
• nonambiguous
• straightforward
• fathomable
• explicit
• definite
• visible
• determined
• exact
• self-evident
• self-explanatory
• tangible
• appreciable
• palpable
• unmistakable
• blatant
• patent

5

as in vague

not seen or understood clearly

a gubernatorial candidate with a murky position on the hot-button issue of capital punishment

Synonyms & Similar Words

• vague
• hazy
• faint
• unclear
• shadowy
• dark
• pale
• indistinct
• nebulous
• fuzzy
• foggy
• opaque
• misty
• obscure
• blurry
• undefined
• dim
• undetermined
• indefinite
• indistinguishable
• bleary
• blear
• gauzy
• gloomy
• dusky
• mysterious
• invisible
• intangible
• puzzling
• incomprehensible
• inexplicable
• impalpable
• inappreciable
• indiscernible
• indecipherable
• obfuscatory
• hieroglyphic

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• clear
• definite
• obvious
• distinct
• bright
• evident
• plain
• certain
• pellucid
• strong
• sure
• firm

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of murky

But in the world of online streaming, the business of running a record label or record label business has gotten a lot murkier. — Max Tani, semafor.com, 14 Aug. 2026

Its other requirements for induction, however, are a bit murky. — Marissa R. Moss, Rolling Stone, 13 Aug. 2026

Either Bass or Raman could win, but if the public’s understanding of the markets is murky, experts say, voters may confuse their speculation for certainty. — Justine McDaniel, Los Angeles Times, 12 Aug. 2026

The youth contest for $250,000 — part of the White House's Freedom 250 festivities — featured over 120 competitors drawn from a murky selection process. — Noah White, Washington Post, 10 Aug. 2026